Challenges 'made Trump more determined'

The frontwoman for Donald Trump's golf resort in Scotland said problems involved with bringing his £1 billion vision to reality were "like a red rag to a bull" for the tycoon.

Sarah Malone, vice-president of Trump International Golf Links Scotland, said the American businessman had been warned about the planning challenges and sensitivities involved with creating a championship golf course at the Menie Estate in Aberdeenshire.

But she said they had only made him more determined to create "the world's greatest golf course" in Scotland and insisted it was on track to open in the summer of 2012. Mr Trump unveiled his plans almost four years ago.

Ms Malone, who revealed a number of new images showing the golf course at a tourism conference in Edinburgh yesterday, blamed Scotland's planning regulations for the delays, saying "the local planning system just could not cope".

Ms Malone also said the tycoon was reminding his team working on the project "on a weekly basis" that he wanted his Scottish golf course to play host to the Open Championship.

"The whole impetus behind the development is Trump's love of the game," she said. "He wants to reconnect with the homeland of Scotland and he is involved on a day-to-day basis with the full decision making process.

"His view is very much that 'Mother Nature has provided this golf course and I am going to build it'. He had to have this site. It is a special site and there were huge financial risks involved. But it has made him more determined to not to give up."

A detailed masterplan for the Trump resort – which will also include a five-star hotel, 500 houses and 950 holiday homes – was unveiled last month.

Ms Malone said work was planned to start "almost immediately" if planning permission was secured by this summer.

Full Story: The Scotsman